There are many firearms which are imported into the United States each year which are of foreign origin. Owing to low labor costs in countries foreign to the United States, the production costs for a given firearm may be significantly lower than similar arms produced within the United States. For the consumer, this translates to the readily-availability of a number of firearms at a reduced cost with respect to their counterparts which are manufactured within the United States.
One firearm which has become popular among firearms enthusiasts is known as the SKS rifle. The SKS is well-known in the art to be a fun and inexpensive rifle which is easy to use, shoot, and clean. It is chambered for a 7.62×39 mm round, which is a low-cost ammunition round. All of these factors make the rifle a great choice for everything from plinking to hunting. However, the SKS rifle has one major downside; it is not provided with a suitable location for mounting a rifle scope. This is probably due to the initial design of the rifle being primarily a weapon of warfare, as opposed to having been designed for sport and hunting purposes.
There have been products on the market which have attempted to solve the problem of the lack of means for affixing a scope to the SKS. One method by which this has been attempted by workers in the prior art is by mounting a weaver-type rail on the receiver cover. The drawback of this approach is that the receiver cover is not directly fixed to the barrel itself, and as such accuracy is marginal at best. In addition, the receiver cover has to be removed for cleaning, which causes additional loss of zero. There is a new product for a similar firearm that attempts to clamp a weaver rail to the gas tube and barrel. This setup also has problems, as the barrel heats up a shift in zero occurs owing to the expansion of the metal parts, and the unit must also be removed to clean the gas tube and port. Various other workers have provided means for attaching various sight means to rifles, a few of which are not outlined below.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,513,549 discloses a sight mount and sight mount bar for mounting a telescopic sight on a firearm such as a rifle. The mounting comprises a bar which has a swivel attachment at an intermediate point to a mounting post, which post has a dovetail foot or tenon which secures to the transverse dovetail groove in the rifle normally occupied by a sight. The bar can move angularly around the mounting post during installation so that it aligns itself with the rifle barrel after which it is clamped the mounting bar provides a means for adjusting it at its ends so that its axis can be tilted angularly relative to the axis of the bore for adjusting the telescope axis in this plane.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,418,487 teaches a mounting bracket for mounting a scope-type sight on a handgun, the handgun having a frame, a barrel supported on the frame, a handle disposed angularly relative to the barrel remote from the discharge end of the barrel. The frame includes a trigger guard disposed about a trigger spaced below the barrel adjacent the handle. The bracket comprises a substantially rectangular housing having a channel extending longitudinally therethrough from a first end to a second end to define a spaced pair of side walls, a top wall and a bottom wall. The channel is of a size for receiving at least the barrel and a portion of the frame, and the top wall includes a planar exterior surface for supporting the sight. The bottom wall extends from the first end of the housing and has a terminus spaced from the second end. The bottom wall includes an interior surface having a shape conforming substantially to that of the frame adjacent the trigger guard. Each side wall havs a bore intermediate the terminus and the second end. The bore in one side wall is aligned with the bore in the other side wall for receiving a pin extending from one bore to the other. There is a protuberance disposed on the exterior surface of the bottom wall which has a terminal surface substantially at the terminus. There is an adjustable stop means carried by the protuberance for extension from the terminal surface, whereby the mounting bracket may be supported on the frame by positioning the pin through the frame and securing the stop means against the trigger guard.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,455,776 provides a sight mount for a firearm having a receiver with an ejection port for expulsion of spent shells therefrom, and a stock to carry a barrel. The mount includes a U-shaped body having first and second leg means extending outwardly therefrom in a generally parallel spaced relation, so that one leg is received on either side of the receiver. The legs have at least one aligned aperture adjacent the lower edge thereof for attachment to the receiver. The first leg of the mount has notch means to expose the ejection port of the receiver and a second notch to receive a pin carried by a bolt provided in the receiver.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,845,871 sets forth a fastening device comprising a locking means and an actuating means. The locking means includes a base portion and a shaft, and the base portion has an upper surface and the shaft centrally positioned on the upper surface in right angle relation thereto. There is a ring which extends from the upper surface in circumscribing, abutting relationship to the shaft. The shaft includes a free terminal end and an opening being transversely formed through the shaft in close proximity to the terminal end. The upper surface of the locking means includes a first camming area and a second camming area spaced from the first camming area. The actuating means includes a base having a top surface, a bottom surface and a centrally positioned aperture formed therethrough, and a tubular portion extending from the top surface in coaxial relation to the aperture and in right angle relation to the top surface. A hole is formed transversely through the tubular portion in right angle relation thereto. The tubular portion includes an external surface from which a handle extends. The fastening device is adapted to engage a support wherein the support has a platform means extending therefrom, in which the platform means includes a support base having a first aperture formed therethrough. The first aperture includes an internal shoulder. The support base includes an uppermost surface and a lowermost surface and the shaft of the locking means passes through the first aperture of the support positioning the ring of the locking means within the first aperture and the upper surface of the base portion in abutting relation to the lowermost surface of the support. The shaft of the locking means is positioned in the tubular portion of the actuating means with the actuating means engaged to the locking means.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,890,407 describes a sight mount for a firearm, comprising: a) an elongated first member; b) an elongated second member; c) a fastening means for adjustably fastening the first member to the second member to form the mount, wherein fastened together, the first and second members define a dovetail sight mount at a top region thereof and further define a clamping attachment portion at a bottom region thereof. The clamping attachment portion is sized to receive a portion of the firearm and clamp the mount thereto. There is also a a rear thrust member extending through the mount and contacting the firearm.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,134,798 discloses an improvement in a sight mount of the type comprising an elongated base bar having a forward end, a rearward end, an upper sight receiving portion and a lower mounting portion, a clamping guide on the upper sight receiving portion, a see-through center hole having an axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of the elongated base bar and located between the upper sight receiving portion and the lower mounting portion, and a self-aligning v-guide having a mounting hole on the lower mounting portion for mounting the sight on a firearm. The improvement comprises: a) an auxiliary sight base bar having an upper surface, a forward end and a rearward end; b) the rearward end of the auxiliary sight base bar being rigidly attached to the forward end of the elongated base bar such that the upper surface is in line with and parallel to the elongated base bar and also spaced at a distance below the see-through center hole of the elongated base bar, and c) the auxiliary sight base bar further comprising a clamping guide on the upper surface thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,166 teaches a sighting device mount for securing a sighting device to a receiver assembly of a rifle comprising: a) a replacement receiver cover adapted to be secured to the receiver assembly to enclose at least a portion of the interior of the receiver assembly; b) a sighting device mounting structure integrally formed on the replacement receiver cover; and c) a pair of longitudinal side rails extending from opposite sides of the replacement receiver cover for contacting the receiver assembly and thereby reducing movement of the replacement receiver cover relative to the receiver assembly.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,343,650 provides an extended rigid frame receiver sleeve for interfacing integrated and modular enhancements to a firearm having forward and rearward portions, wherein the firearm has minimally a receiver with a stock and barrel attached thereto. The barrel defines the forward portion of the firearm and the stock defines the rearward portion of the firearm. The firearm longitudinal axis is defined as horizontal and running from the stock through the receiver to the barrel. The receiver is comprised of an upper receiver and a lower receiver, in which the upper receiver has a forward portion, a top and a rearward portion, wherein the barrel is joined to the forward portion of the upper receiver. The sleeve comprises: a) a forward interface portion having sides, a front and a rear; and b) a rearward interface portion, having sides comprised of: i) a fixed receiver interface sleeve element joined to the top of the upper receiver and having a front joined to the rear of the forward interface portion; and ii) a slidable sleeve element slidably mounted on the fixed receiver interface sleeve element.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,806,228 sets forth an improved scope mounting base for a carrying handle on an M-16 type rifle, wherein the carrying handle has a sight tunnel, comprising a scope mounting base adapted to be assembled to the underside of the carrying handle to provide a scope mounting surface on an exterior side surface of the carrying handle in a manner which leaves the sight tunnel through the carrying handle unobstructed by the base, wherein the exterior scope mounting surface comprises a dovetail-type rail surface.